The Days of Our Ridazz.

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So I went to close out my account with Smells Farto, the young girl at the teller window seemed bored, just proceesing the closing. She asked why are you closing the account? I told her because I am part of the 99%! and I cant justify in my mind being out protesting against bank and corporate greed and still have an account here. She looked at me, smiled and said in a low voice. I hear you, i dont keep my money here either! I went to a credit union. Next up is the 401K....

I've opened a credit union, but I have a loan with Bank of A-holes that is at a fixed rate that I can't get better anywhere else yet. Until I find a way to get a better deal at a credit union then I can convince my wife to move the loan. Its difficult.

I moved my account from Chase to Wescom Credit Union, DTLA on Wilshire. Some credit unions require you be a member of a union or have a family member who already has an account. Wescom only requires you either live, work or worship in Los Angeles County, Orange County or San Bernandino County. Go with any credit union you can find that will accept your money. Credit Unions are much nicer and the aren't owned by stockholders on Wall Street.

I recently opened 2 account (savings & checking) at the AFTRA/SAG Credit Union in preparation for the big move. Personally, I am waiting until the 4th/5th (https://www.facebook.com/Nov.Fifth) to actually move all of my money over (from ING, the largest financial group in the world), so the banks will maybe have some idea of why I am doing so. I recommend you all do the same.

I, too, am having difficulty finding somewhere to transfer my mortgage (from US Bank), as my new credit union does not offer mortgages. Considering paying off my mortgage with my cash (been saving up for a 2nd property), so the banks will at least earn no more interest off me. Advice?

All banks sell their mortages in the secondary market as Mortgage Backed Securities. A very high percentage of the mortgage market is controlled by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as Ginnie Mae for all the gov't securities. I would argue that having a low rate is not only good for you, but it actually hurts the banks to have assets tied up with a low rate of return. When the rates go up, they will be stuck holding an underperforming asset. (they are holding 4% paper and rates in the market are at 6% for example) I am old enough to remember the American Savings debacle prior to the whole S&L fiasco. American Savings went under because they made a whole bunch of loans at low rates, and when rates went up, they couldn't survive.

Take care of yourself and your family, banks have no heart and they will screw you in a heartbeat if it suits them.

I, too, am having difficulty finding somewhere to transfer my mortgage (from US Bank), as my new credit union does not offer mortgages. Considering paying off my mortgage with my cash (been saving up for a 2nd property), so the banks will at least earn no more interest off me. Advice?

Go for it. In the long run, you're probably far better off actually owning one piece of property than "owning" and being in debt for two pieces of property.

I'm headed down to DTLA today.
I figure thats the best place to get some money from BofA and get into a CU branch.
I have a credit union account from a few years back (USE) that I might reopen.
Or...
Any suggestions?

I am planning to move my crap from Bank of Avarice to a credit union, but I'm actually intentionally avoiding Nov 5 move-your-money day. For one thing, I need more time to research my options, such as which CUs will accept me, and which of the ones that will accept me offer the best rates/perks/services/convenient locations/etc.

More importantly, branch managers for major banks have had some success preventing protesters from closing accounts en masse under the premise that such protest makes for an "emotionally unsafe" work environment for the bank employees.

I don't need to make a show of my protest, but I am certainly going to participate. It's mostly just important to take money from the banks, the method/time/place are not as critical to me.

I don't understand your question. You mean the physical paper that comes in, or the number on the ledger in your account.

With the number on the ledger in your account, credit unions do similar things as banks do. They loan out the money to their customers charging interest higher than they pay out in interest to enable them to pay for their expenses. Credit Unions used to offer higher interest rates on deposits and lower interest rates on loans due to their corporate structure. Often Credit Union's CEO and other officers will make large salaries but not obscene, like in the 200,000-400,000 range.

My father worked for a bank and didn't like that credit unions could operate as financial institutions because he felt that it was unfair competition due to their non-profit nature. The wikipedia articles on credit unions have more information:

CALIFORNIA CREDIT UNION is one of the best! It's non-profit and open to the public (no unions) with free checking and savings, home and auto loans at extra low interest, VISA cards, eight free 7-11 24-hour convenience store ATM cash withdrawals per month. Free cash withdrawals at all CCU locations with no limit.

I've been a member for over ten years, I closed out my Chase, B of A and Well's Fargo accounts and use this one credit union for everything.

Banks don't keep there money in banks, credit unions and banks are FDIC insured, damaged paper money is returned to the Federal Reserve to be recycled into new money, and new money is issued to banks and credit unions by the FIDC.

The most important difference is that (most) credit unions (California Credit Union) are non-profit. So the money is reinvested in the customers and the community. For instance, CCU does not make a profit, it makes what it needs to provide goods and services to it's customers, with a small percentage being donated to California Teachers and Students.

Any public or private school employee*
Los Angeles County Office Employees (LACOE)
Any California Retired Teachers Association PERS member
Any senior-year teaching student

*Current or retired employee of LAUSD, Other USD, LACCD, UC, CSU, Other California college or California public or private school.

You also qualify for membership if you are a/an:
Immediate relative of a California Credit Union member
Parent Teacher Association or Parent Teacher Student Association member*
Public television contributor
Alumni association member
America Scouting member
Student body member of California school

*Not a PTA/PTSA member? We'll sign you up at any of our local branches!

Doesn't look like I qualify for Cal Credit Union. I'm not any of those things and can't sign up for PTA/PTSA because I'm not a parent or student.

I could sign up for my University's alumni assoc for about $500 but that's a pretty enormous signing fee for joining a credit union. Though I guess it would also open the door for possible health insurance group plan (still expensive but better than nothing which is what I would have otherwise, due to pre-existing conditions).

I have a cousin in Lockheed Credit Union so that seems a good bet for me. There are also a few super-local credit unions you can join just based on your residential address but their benefits/rates/locations probably won't be as good.

What about not dealing with banks at all? I see a lot of nice bikes out there, only knowing too well they're on credit. Learn how to live within your means, and forget about credit. Palucha, cycle your ass to the nearest office supply store and buy a shredder with cash. Then you shred that credit card to pieces.

Its $5 a month for checking but if you work it out right checking is free.
ANd they give you 3 months to set it up.
The more business you do with them the more perks you get.
(ie Dirct deposit, investments,online bill pay, loans, insurance etc.).

For people who do a fair amount of bank business, or keep an average of $2k or more in the bank at a time, this bank has a lot of perks.

If you keep a low balance, just need a place to deposit your paycheck, and use the atm. its still a better deal than BoFA but there may be another CU that is an even better deal.

If you keep a low balance, just need a place to deposit your paycheck, and use the atm. its still a better deal than BoFA but there may be another CU that is an even better deal.

Searching for the best deal is part of the problem. The reason to use a local credit union instead of BOA, Chase, or Citibank, is not because its cheaper but because the large banks are part of the problem. You don't not shop at Walmart because you find it cheaper elsewhere, but because Walmart is an evil corporation that is downgrading the living standards of all americans. Same reason you don't bank with BOA, etc.

That's a bit simplistic. Better, maybe, to say that searching for the best deal *without regard to the costs you're pushing onto others* is part of the problem. Be that as it may, the fact remains that different CUs have different fee structures; and by shopping among them a person looking for specific services can often find them cheaper and avoid supporting rapacious banks at the same time.